Keyboardist Kent on a tear ...

A semi great gig, yeah ... like our drummer said about our first gig in months.

Started with a wet pus--oops--a rainy night, no sound check, a guitarist who prefers to "practice" on his new girl friend rather than his old guitar...
a keyboardist in a trance-like daze, incapable of staying focused throughout the night, a bassist who refused to hammer out his amp, and yes,
the drummer himself with his "pay me more, you get more" attitude took the whole band by surprise by leaving out the last verse of "Turning Japanese"--his newfound pride has no doubt taken its toll again.

Then again, just as I tried hard to strike the right keys on "Light My Fire,"
Ali-mo's self-proclaimed most devoted fan, a Turk you've probably seen hanging around at each and every gig we've had, tried hard to light his own fire. I would have definitely needed at least 20 beers to blur my vision and fray my nerves.
Shame on you Sherif ! Fix your behavior or you'll be kicked off the A-Life team for sure!! To those who have no idea about this nerd-hating, 38 year-old having Turk with the
maturity of an 18 year-old, watch out for him at our gigs.
Tatoo my arse !!

Well, hope to have a better gig next month. Cheers.

Bass Player Hornyak AWOL in China!

from ali-mo's gallant and gallivanting new bassist, Tim:

As I mentioned, I'm in China.

Talk to you next week.

"...that's all you're getting out of him tonight."

Member Change, New Songs, etc

Really enjoyed the gig we had on Saturday. :)
To those of you who came to liven up the night with us -- THANK YOU!!

I guess you've already noticed by now that we've recently had a member change --
Tim Hornyak, our new bassist from Canada, has been playing with us for several gigs now, after our first basssist, Denny, had to leave the band because of his move back to Indonesia. I think this was actually the 3rd gig we had with Tim already? Anyhow, i think he's blending in well with the band, already getting used to our Ali-Mo drift and all. He'd brought in some of his own stuff to band, too. Oh, and some cool song suggestions, too. 'Sweet Emotion' is one that he'd brought in. Figures that a bassist would bring that one to the band -- some cool bass riffs in there. I think Roland does a great job with taking lead vocal in that song, too.
It's kinda cool to have two authors -- Roland and Tim -- in the band.
A literary rhythm section? (...whatever that is. but it sounds good.)
One regret (or one of the several regrets) I have about Saturday night was that we weren't able to do one of our new songs that we were planning to play. It's a rather simple song, more of a "listen to " song than a "dance to" one. In the third set, when it came time to play it, there were so many people already up on their feet dancing. So we made an executive decision to cut it and play "Play that Funky Music" instead. I guess it was a good decision since more people started getting down to the dance floor when Richie began crunching out the intro to Funky Music.
Ah well. Maybe we'll put that new song in an earlier set list and play it at our next gig.

Speaking of which, if anyone out there has any song requests, please write in!
I've personally been thinking for quite a while now that I want to do a song from THE WHO -- but have been hesitating on which particular song to take to the band. Do you think that a female vocal version of "You Better You Bet" would be cool?

The manager told me that I should add a photo in my blog entry. Couldn't find any good photos from the gig, so here's an x-ray shot of my right foot when i thought i had broken my toe (but actually hadn't).

Semi-Great Saturday Nights

We here at ALI-MO have branded the band's weekend gig as 'semi-great,' partly because we enjoy flattering ourselves (hence the 'great'), partly because we are draconian realists who know, for example, that our first set really blew.

To be fair to the band, we were denied a sound-check. To be fair to me, I could not hear the bass guitar or my own voice throughout the first set. To be fair to our guitarist, who is a genius: he had no time to practice, none at all. To be fair to our keyboardist, hallucinatory drugs will eventually take their toll. And to be fair to the other two members, the reach for perfection is always painful.

To be even fairer to me, I am not yet being compensated at a rate high enough to justify singing all three verses of "Turning Japanese." When that changes, you'll get the full song, uninterrupted by errant, mistimed drum snafus and gurgling noises.

Thanks to all of YOU, however, the next two sets rocked the Roob Bldg. to its flinty foundations. Big kudos to the thumping, bumping danceroos on the floor whose swaggering backsides pumped us through "Sweet Emotion" (our first live outing with that sucker), "Funky Music," "Money Changes Everything" and more. Arigato, ne?

And vast wells of gratitude to the fine and very friendly young woman in halter top and skintight denims who lobbed her lacy bra and bottoms my way. Only thing is, they don't fit. Two sizes up next time?

Ah, speaking of which: Sunday, June 15, same bat cave ...

--gene krupa

5/24 Saturday, at EBISU 'What the Dickens!"

Come on HOME to ALI-MO
Rejuvenated, Revamped--still the Sexiest
Live! this Saturday night

Date: May 24, Saturday
Venue: What The Dickens! (EBISU)
http://www.whatthedickens.jp/index.php?lang=1
4th Floor, Loop6 Bldg
1-13-3 Ebisu-Nishi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03-5545-4242
Start: 9:00-ish p.m. till midnight
Price: FREE!!

******************************************
Date: ５月２４日（土）
Venue: What The Dickens! （恵比寿）
http://www.whatthedickens.jp/index.php?lang=1
　　　東京都渋谷区恵比寿西1-13-3
　　　ループ６ビル４F
　　　Tel: 03-5545-4242
Start: 9:00pmくらいから深夜０時まで
入場無料。